


Probably a Mistake

by vampireisthenewblack



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Derek Comes Back, Flash Fic, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03A, Stiles is (potentially) Derek's Anchor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-03 01:57:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampireisthenewblack/pseuds/vampireisthenewblack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe it's time Derek found another anchor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Probably a Mistake

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Prawdopodobnie błąd](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4823231) by [Pomyluna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pomyluna/pseuds/Pomyluna)



> For the prompt: Interest. Thanks to venis_envy for pretty much everything.

"What, Stiles?" Derek snaps, feeling a tug on his arm.

Stiles steps back a few paces, hands held up in surrender. "Nothing, man, I just—" He drops his hands, huffs out a laugh. His eyes flick downward, and he bites his lip, twists the toe of his shoe against the floor before lifting his eyes back up. "I missed you. I'm glad you're back."

It's been a long time. Derek isn't exactly sure how long. The full moons have blurred together, too many with no one to chain up but himself.

He left town feeling a calm he hadn't known in years, and it didn't work. The first month he had to summon back that anger just to stay in control. Then Cora left, and he clung to it, angry and alone, and it's all he was for so long. It's so easy now to snap, and Stiles pulling on his shirt as he tried to follow the others out the door sparked a reaction.

"Sorry," he says, and his voice is as harsh and unused as it was when he answered Scott's phone call, the one that brought him back. He drops his own eyes to the floor. "I don't know how long I'll be staying."

There's a soft noise of disappointment from across the room.

Derek looks up. "Stiles? What." Stiles' heart is beating faster, blood is rushing to his face, coloring his cheeks with heat. "What?" Derek repeats.

Stiles chews his lip again, grabs it between his teeth, drags it out, coloring the flesh white before blood rushes back in. He shakes his head. "I _really_ missed you," he says, taking a step forward.

It takes two erratic beats of Stiles' heart for Derek to realize what he's saying, another moment to read him, to flick his eyes up to see Stiles' dilated pupils, to register the difference in his scent. It's something close to fear, but different, and mixed with the unique flavor that isn't quite arousal. "Oh," he breathes, and his eyes track down Stiles' arms to his clenching fists.

Stiles is nervous, teeth tearing at his lip, blinking rapidly as he waits for a reaction.

Slowly, Derek approaches the boy, one step at a time. "I didn't know," he says, as he stops mere feet from where Stiles stands.

Stiles shakes his head. "Neither did I. Until you were gone." Another soft, self-deprecating laugh as he runs his fingers through his hair, grown just a little longer again. "I didn't like that you were gone."

"You could have called," Derek says, his voice low, though there's no one here to hear. "You could've—"

"And say what?" Stiles laughs again. "Hey, Derek? Just figured out I'm into you. Why don't you come back so I can make a complete fool of myself?" His tongue darts out of his mouth, drags over his lower lip, makes it wet and shiny. "Nah." He forces a grin, unclenches his fist, lifts his hand in a gesture of dismissal. "This way you can reject me in person. It'll be great. Go on."

"I'm not going to—"

"Yeah. You are." Stiles offers a smile and shoves his hands in his pockets. "I'm just a kid. Or maybe you're not into guys. You break everything you touch? There's so many reasons. And it's okay. If you're leaving again anyway, it's not like it'll be awkward or anything. I just didn't want to do that pining thing. You tell me no, I pretend to get over it, and we both pretend this conversation never happened. It's cool."

"Stiles," Derek says, and he takes that last step that brings him into Stiles' space, not touching, but too close to be misunderstood.

Stiles' eyes open wide, and his heart beats even faster. "Derek"?

It's probably a mistake. Stiles is too young, but it's been a long time since Derek's thought of him as just a kid. Legalities aside, Stiles' age doesn't matter.

It's probably a mistake. Derek doesn't choose well, people die, and Stiles is one of the ones who'll suffer if things go badly. But Stiles is already in the thick of it. He's part of what's drawing bad things here. If Derek's here, he can help protect him.

It's probably a mistake, because Derek needs his anger now more than ever to stay in control. But if he's not alone, anger won't be all that defines him, and maybe it's time he found another anchor.

It's probably a mistake, but Derek kisses Stiles anyway, wrapping his hand around the back of Stiles' neck and pulling him close, smiling at the way Stiles' eyes widen in surprise the instant before their lips meet. And it's the briefest thing, the merest brush of skin against skin before he pulls back. "Maybe I'll stick around," he says. "If there's something to keep me here."

Stiles' smile this time is real as it slowly spreads over his face, as he opens his mouth wide in something like wonder, and one fist pumps the air as the other twists into the back of Derek's shirt.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed reading, please hit the [Kudos ♥] button.
> 
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